Anyone seen my old pearl white Turbo, red leather 1985?

Anyone seen my old pearl white Turbo, red leather 1985?

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Diablo_Pete

Original Poster:

3,594 posts

200 months

Wednesday 13th February 2008
quotequote all
Haven't owned a lotus esprit for a while and of the one's I had, GT3, Turbo, S3, the pearl white red leather 1985 turbo was my favourite. I rememeber seeing it for sale about 10? years ago. Never saw another turbo in this colour scheme. Just wondered if it's still out there?

Dodgey_Rog

1,994 posts

265 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
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Diablo_Pete said:
Haven't owned a lotus esprit for a while and of the one's I had, GT3, Turbo, S3, the pearl white red leather 1985 turbo was my favourite. I rememeber seeing it for sale about 10? years ago. Never saw another turbo in this colour scheme. Just wondered if it's still out there?
IT was quite a popular colour scheme, Pat H had an HC the same colour combi i recall, it was the 80's after all.

Diablo_Pete

Original Poster:

3,594 posts

200 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
Agreed, but at the time I kept an eye on the market for about 10 years and the only time a ever saw a pearl white/full red turbo, it was my old car. The plate when I sold it was C??? KAX. Prior to that had OWP1P and came from Wales.
Steering rack was knackered when I traded it in.

Most pearls tended to have blue interiors at the time IIRC

Peter

BC007

40 posts

229 months

Friday 15th February 2008
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Barry Ely Sports Cars has one for sale.

www.barryelysportscars.co.uk/images/White%20Esprit...

BC

Diablo_Pete

Original Poster:

3,594 posts

200 months

Friday 15th February 2008
quotequote all
Thanks BC, nice to see that car as I never took a single picture of mine. Its almost the same other than being a year older and only having halk leather rather than full leather.

thanks
Peter

dbandell

1 posts

155 months

Sunday 23rd October 2011
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I realize that this posting is very late, however I just came across it this afternoon. I believe the car you are referring to is the RHD sibling to the US Spec Esprit my father owned. In 1984, Lotus showed the Etna concept car. It was painted in a pearl white finish, not used by Lotus prior to that point. Lotus reportedly produced 2 additional cars using the same exterior color - both were 1985 Esprits. The one you refer to stayed in England, while the LHD car made its way to a dealer in New Jersey. Additionally, the US based magazine AutoWeek drove ours around the country prior to our purchase. Besides being a LHD example, it was finished with blue leather. My father sold the car in 1987 (I think) and we never saw it again. The color was obviously well received as pearl white was added as an optional factory color selection in 1986.

Pat H

8,058 posts

261 months

Tuesday 25th October 2011
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Dodgey_Rog said:
Diablo_Pete said:
Haven't owned a lotus esprit for a while and of the one's I had, GT3, Turbo, S3, the pearl white red leather 1985 turbo was my favourite. I rememeber seeing it for sale about 10? years ago. Never saw another turbo in this colour scheme. Just wondered if it's still out there?
IT was quite a popular colour scheme, Pat H had an HC the same colour combi i recall, it was the 80's after all.
I still have mine.

It is plain old Monaco White and not Pearl, with red half leather.






A few years ago I did briefly own a Pearl White NA S3 with dark blue leather, which I bought as a running project.

It needed paint and a bit of trim, but was mechanically sound and had about 60,000 miles on the clock.

I sold it without MOT or tax for £2750.

Yep, £2750.

Should have kept it, cos one day it will be worth a lot more than that...


Junglehop

363 posts

193 months

Tuesday 25th October 2011
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Its worth far more than that! even now! car looks to be in great nick do u have any more photo's?

HairbearTE

702 posts

159 months

Friday 28th October 2011
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That looks a lot like my old esprit. Mine was pearl White, blue leather, glass roof. The front had been resprayed in a slightly different pearl White due to the original paint not being available. On the subject of pearl White paint there are some lovely factory colours at the moment. Mazda have a great one, Toyota "blizzard" pearl is an awesome colour option and there are others too.

Pat H

8,058 posts

261 months

Saturday 29th October 2011
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Junglehop said:
Its worth far more than that! even now! car looks to be in great nick do u have any more photo's?
Here you go.

I bought it for about £3000, intending cosmetically to restore it. Mechanically it was pretty sound. Needed a leaky tank replacing, the exhaust sorting out and a few other pretty small jobs.

It really needed painting and trimming, neither of which was a job I could do. By the time I had costed the work, it made more sense just to sell it on and buy a minter.

Which is pretty much what happened. I ended up buying back my old HC Turbo.










HairbearTE

702 posts

159 months

Saturday 29th October 2011
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^^ This picture brings back fond memories. Mine had a slight tear in the leather on the center cpnsole but otherwise looked just like that. Most comfortable car to sit in that i've ever known, door and console act as armrests, it's like being in your living room! laugh

Pat H

8,058 posts

261 months

Saturday 29th October 2011
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HairbearTE said:
Most comfortable car to sit in that i've ever known...
Perhaps that's taking it a bit far.

But I did take my Turbo to Le Mans last year, which was a 1200 mile round trip in four days.

Not the quietest of cars for a long trip, but I emerged without any aches or pains and I'm 6"2.

And the only failure was that the purge pump stopped working along the way.

smile